(Alliance News) - Burford Capital Ltd on Monday said its commitments and deployments reached "record-breaking levels" in the first half of 2021, though the litigation finance firm expects a profit fall.
Shares in the company were 6.4% lower at 793.50 pence each in London on Monday morning.
Burford saw "robust" levels of new business during the six months to June 30. It made new commitments of over USD500 million, a company best, four times higher than a year earlier. In addition, it deployed USD399 million, more than treble year-on-year.
"Our trend towards larger and more complex new matters continued. Of our 14 new matters, none had commitment levels under USD5 million while six were USD20 million or above," Burford said.
"This level of activity suggests that the slowdown in new business in early 2020 from Covid has moderated and that we are finding considerable opportunities to deploy capital."
The company posted realised gains of USD77 million during the half. However, it cautioned that 43% of matters in its portfolio have faced Covid-19-related delays. Some court dates have been delayed and the virus has also meant slower settlement activity.
On its first half financial results, Burford expects a USD70 million net loss, on a non-cash accruals. Burford said it is considering a conversion to US GAAP accounting standards before the end of the year. Should it decide to use GAAP measures, the first half report will be its last using IFRS standards.
On a cash basis, it expects non-IFRS post-tax profit of USD20 million for the first half.
By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com
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Burford Capital (BUR)